A privileged few have been seen playing a full version of Halo 3 online, suggesting the game's complete status, but Microsoft today officially announced that Bungie's Xbox 360 sci-fi shooter sequel has gone gold and is on track for its Sept 25 worldwide release.

"This is a huge milestone for us and a big cause for celebration at Bungie and Microsoft Game Studios," said studio head Harold Ryan. "This is the game we've always wanted to make and certainly the best game our studio has developed. We can't wait for gamers to get their hands on it on Sept. 25."

Microsoft, always bullish on Halo franchise sales projections, expects the game to "shatter day-one entertainment sales records," as the game has already achieved one million retail preorders in North America. The release of Halo 2 for Xbox saw first-day sales that eclipsed both film and game industry records.

What was due for the end of June to celebrate our 9th Birthday missed the deadline unfortunately.

But here it is almost complete only a few small things to do! (nav menu new look and top right logo! been the most obvious!)

Its on a CMS (Content Management System) called e107 which has had this custom theme made and just about every default graphic has been changed to our own style, these were a few hundred icons to very large things like the banners you can see.

Features that the site include for site members and to some extent the public/guests are.

Site Members:

Use the comment system.

Use the public forum!

Download all files! (but not clan member only files!)

Have an inbox/outbox on the site for sending and receiving messages! (10meg limit each!)

Read exclusive articles/interviews.

Use the sites rating system.

View other site member profiles.

Search the whole site.

Guests:

View the site but can't do any of the above!

Read the public comments.

Limited search options.

Limited downloading!

Vote in public Polls.

Their is a lot more the site offers and even a lot more for site members but for that you will have to register for an account.

Which brings me to my last few points, the site works best in Google Chrome, Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox 2 it will work in other browsers like Opera (PC & Wii) and to a lesser extent IE6 but the latter is very buggy and is not recommend plus no one should be on that browser in this day and age!! (I may get around to fixing it) The site is also best viewed in a resolution of 1280 and above as well.

Also note there may be a few bugs to iron out over time we will fix these, please report any you find here.

All the old accounts are unfortunately gone as this system is new so you will have to re-sign up for an account as they have not been transferred. So don't delay register today!!

Halo 3 will be dominating the headlines in late September, but PC gamers needn't sulk, because Crytek says that it will release a Crysis demo on 25th September.

The demo will consist of the entire first level of the single-player game. Called "Contact", it will give you a taste of the fancy graphics, fancy Nanosuit gameplay and fancy open-ended level design that make the game - for want of a better word - fancy.

What's more, Crytek says the demo is "poised to include a huge surprise from Crytek". Perhaps they're going to correct the typo in the name.

Eurogamer has an exclusive preview of the upcoming PC game. Which does look very slick but unfortunately requires a DirectX 10 card and Windows Vista to get the most out of it!!

Despite the advances, though, Crysis isn't without its clichés. Characters include a shouting Afro American chief and a British thug type who responds to orders with, "Bollocks". The first mission sees you rescuing a woman wearing a vest smaller than something Lara wears when she wants to look slutty. And everyone says things like, "The whole mountain is encased in some kind of energy sphere" with noteworthy regularity.

The review may find Crysis failing to push boundaries too hard when it comes to plot, characterisation or basic gameplay mechanics, but that there are truthfully innovative features, namely the nano suit and the Power Struggle mode. Whatever the final verdict, there's no denying that Crysis's biggest differentiating element is the fact that it looks brilliant - even, as we found out in Frankfurt, if you don't have the very latest technology to play it on.

Cervat Yerli agrees. "I would even say some DX10 games out there won't look as good as ours running DirectX 9. Or as a competitor friend said, "Crysis will be the zenith of graphics for probably the next two or three years."